Exactly. Any talk of being "thorough" is to cover for the fact they don't know what to do. They're trying desperately to find a candidate who won't totally embarrass them whilst being relatively cheap.

It's so far up their sleeve, at a point where continuity and time is of the essence, it's taken them nearly two weeks to extract from said sleeve? The silence and shifting odds indicate they're running around like headless chickens (if you'll pardon the pun!)

Absolutely, as good as Lowe may be, you also have to consider the politics of his situation. Will he be there next week? Who's got authority to tell a player who's contract's running down he'll be there next season? Does he have the experience at this level for a PO run in? Will he get the job if he wins another game? These questions would eat away at even the best coach's position.

Ah, so another day is done, no manager appointed. 10 days since the Wolves game when news broke. No Time for a new manager to establish himself with two full days training before Swansea. Oh what a circus! Unity and cohesion was needed to galvanise after Eustace's departure, get a new guy in efficiently and go again. That window is now passed. Instead the club appears to be falling apart from the top down - will the rot hit the players by Saturday?

I thought I'd just sum up a few themes on this thread... 1. The club should have a shortlist, be able to update it in half a day (given we've been left in the lurch). Then, it's 3-4 days to interview 6 candidates and/or sound out agents. No excuses beyond 5-7 working days (where we're at now. 2. We need a quick appointment - we're seeing discord in our ranks already, other clubs like Boro are mobilising and prospective managers are starting to see the dysfunction. 3. We need an impact manager/ motivator on a contract to the summer. There's no long term thinking at the club and the summer will be a sh!tshow. We're unlikely to get a top candidate of this mould but will probably get a 'passable' B-grade substitute. 4. All this is traceable back to the regime. This episode *must* be the catalyst for a new Venkys Out campaign.

Starting to think a Karanka type figure is on the cards. Anyone with kudos in the English game has woken up to how fragile the clubs situation is.

This seems to be justifying why I was arguing the club needed to move quickly. We've now got direct competition from Boro for managers and the fans are starting to get restless at the lack of concrete news. The candidates are starting to see from all this how BRFC are dysfunctional and getting cold feet.

Yup, there's probably a 10% chance we go up. We're not getting a good manager long term now, nor are we getting one in the summer if we stay in the division. Without breaking the bank, it's time for a short term shot in the arm to try our best to get promoted, then re-evaluate. Otherwise, it could be a long time before the club's given a position like this again.

That, and for a modest outlay, we could get in someone with skills and experience who could have an immediate impact and motivation. Lowe is perfectly capable mind.

Season's done of they appoint him. Hopefully the fans would write the remaining fixtures off and coalesce around a new Venkys Out campaign. Ridiculous appointment.

This is true... for now. The players need to know what the board's decision is, otherwise doubts will be sown that "They're going to scupper this and put Manager X in with 8 games to go. Will X or Y's style suit us?" All that uncertainty and those nagging questions that will arise the longer the club stay silent. Equally, the fans will get restless at the continuing incompetence of the management. Maybe we could go longer with Lowe as caretaker - the board just need to say so and tell us when they're going to appoint! Certainty and unity is needed for this run-in. An issue as central as the Head Coach can't be let slide. An effective team in this situation needs to take a decision and move on.

Hmm, I don't think it excuses taking over two weeks for an appointment. Days, maybe, but you should spend a day narrowing down to a shortlist (say 6 people), being ruthless and getting the lowdown off a few agents. A lot of your shortlist will ultimately be who you were thinking of anyway. Two days to interview the shortlist - appointment. Maybe some politics delays things to ensure the appointment doesn't disturb the players and the fixture schedule. It's been seven days since we knew Eustace was gone, and we've got six clear days without a game - so we should be within spitting distance of an appointment. *Should* being the operative phrase!

The club has been blindsided by Eustace and hasn't been as well prepared as it should've been - agreed. However, when a manager departs suddenly it sometimes does take a few days to work things out with the top candidates. You can't have a new manager on speed dial all the time, when the trigger is actually pulled the appointment might not work in practice. If we get a decent appointment by midweek, I think the club will have done OK- that's 10 days which seems reasonable.

I agree but stress the need for a quick appointment. Dragging it out beyond Swansea raises anxiety and uncertainty which is what we don't need. Cracks will start to show in the fanbase and squad. Very quickly the club should be able to find the top six candidates who are viable then interview and appoint (hopefully by Wednesday).

I think anxiety will build the longer without an appointment - it looks chaotic. The club should have a shortlist of six managers constantly under review and now be working their way through that to work out who's the best fit. 13 (hopefully 16) game contract, appoint Tuesday/Wednesday, first game Swansea. Job done, tyvm.

I get the feeling the club has been blindsided by Eustace. Yes, they were stupid not to register he might just walk out. However, given the situation we were left in, it makes sense to take a few days, interview a shortlist of half a dozen and appoint midweek ahead of Swansea. "150 candidates" is a bit of a red herring when the truth is the club's been left in the lurch and there's a handful of candidates they need to choose from.

I'd probably have to see an interview with them to properly judge them. Yes, they *could* work until the summer. But I fear they're both a bit past it now. 3 or 4 years ago I'd be right with you.

I'd like to think that as much as the regime has a passive approach to management and wants to do things on the cheap, Boateng would be a step too far for them? It has to pass the court of public opinion and basic competency for the role, otherwise it will draw unwanted attention. I'd like to think they wouldn't appoint him unless they genuinely saw something in his abilities. That said, the regime are the same people who appointed Kean and passed on Warnock for Coyle. However, with the exception of Coyle (who at least was a proven manager with a promotion on his record), every appointment since Lambert actually seems to have been decent. Not saying Boateng won't happen, but we have to hope that pattern continues.

I think when they took over they were very naive and didn't realise what they'd walked into. As has been pointed out, the club's financials won't move the dial in Pune and with the new laws it's a pain to put money in anyway. The club represents a small part of their portfolio, they're either keeping hold incase they can recoup £100m+ from promotion or out of pride. Otherwise, they don't care and are happy to keep the club simmering on the back burner. They're not breaking their backs trying to build the club. I don't accept the argument "big names sit in the Championship for years" - most of the division has some level of financial constraint, mismanagement or whatever. The fact Rovers are fifth shows how poor the standard of club management is. If you have a plan and a reasonable fanbase, most clubs can do well in this division (eg Barnsley in the POs and Luton). Leeds struggled for years because they didn't have a plan and the financials weren't right. With a plan and a modicum of investment, Rovers should have made the play offs *ONCE* after 13 years in the division and given the positions we've been in come the new year over the years. The owners simply don't care enough to go that extra mile, spend a few extra million here and there, sweet talk a top manager, upgrade the club off the pitch etc. 'The plan' (if there is one) is to do the bare minimum and just hope the club stumbles into the POs one day by weight of numbers.

Doesn't pass the sniff test of how a celebrity would behave in this day and age imo. I don't think it would be possible for one of the most famous footballers of his generation to attend a football game unnoticed. I mean, it's plausible if he wore a big coat and hat, but one pic and the cat's out the bag. Risk > reward surely? But, then again, I'm not a celebrity and a few probably have very funny stories about going undercover. Rooney did do Derby when they were down the bottom of the Championship so not unheard of - if Gerrard was to just go for a six month contract so he could wash his hands of everything if worst came to the worst.

What is it in for them to keep pumping money into the club? Are they deluded enough to think they'll get their money back in the Premier League? The reason why they've failed to sell after 15 years needs to be understood. Even most good football club owners don't hold on to equity for this long!

You don't have to be an accountant to see that's ruinous for the balance sheet. Why on Earth let an 'asset' depreciate to zero when you could recoup some of the value? 🙃 We do have a good academy and have done some good recruitment. We're reliant on selling a few players for big money every couple of years (e.g. Szmodics) who've appreciated in value to partially reinvest at the beginning of the cycle. The majority of that money goes to (fruitlessly) try and plug the haemorrhaging of money. Evidently a flawed model - where's marketing and growing the BRFC brand? Where's other sources of income, investment in new revenue generating facilities? It would take a few years to do, but couldn't the area surrounding Ewood be bought up by the club and developed into a social hub (cinema, restaurants, flats, fan zone, refurbished BRIC etc)? Instead the matchday offering has been unchanged in 30 years!

Especially given it's hard to smooth talk a candidate now the dirty laundry is very much in the open - the job lends itself to the desperate. If I were a decent manager the only reason I'd take the job now is if it were until May. That way I could say "Well, it'll be over by May at the worst, I'm getting paid and there's good mitigating factors if it all goes t*ts up. Best case scenario is a promotion on my record." A good manager, long term now isn't realistic.

From our, fans, perspective we'd like to see the club roll the dice, spend a few million on a 14-game "impact" manager to give the play offs a good go. In reality, I think Waggot and co will be looking more "pragmatically" - yes, maybe someone to bide us over to the summer and go for the POs, but also someone who won't cost the Earth. Chances are, I don't think there's enough for me to say we won't drop out of the top 6. Sunderland (A) and Sheffield Utd (A) in the last three could very easily be six points dropped - that's on top of any points dropped between now and then. Tbf, if we're serious all fixtures except those two could and should see results, with respect to our opponents. Ergo, we probably finish 8th regardless and the summer fire sale begins, the search for a manager wanting to join the club or stay on beyond the summer looks like an uphill battle. In many ways it's vital the 10-20% chance we go up does happen otherwise next season looks a challenge.

Given the budget and ownership we ain't a club that can offer a manager a project. It's a matter of chuck a manager in there for 14 games and see where it takes us. The club's been teetering on the edge for years - taking the fair assumption we finish 8th, the summer is going to be chaos.